Recreational Music Making for Stress Relief

How do you relieve stress? Watch tv? Chew your nails? Eat? Perhaps when you are feeling stressed, you should reach for your guitar instead. One study suggests that recreational music making can be significant in stress-reduction, even for those who don’t consider themselves to be musically inclined.

Dr. Barry Bittman of the Mind-Body Wellness Center, and researchers from Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems, published the results of their scientific research study in the February 2005 issue of the Medical Science Monitor.

The study took 32 adults who did not consider themselves to be musical, and had them engage in a stress-inducing activity for an hour. Then the group was divided into three smaller groups. For the next hour, each participant either continued the stress-producing activity, relaxed and read periodicals of their choice, or participated in a group recreational music (piano) keyboard program.

Blood samples taken before and after each activity were analyzed for 45 specific biological responses to stress.

The researchers found that stress-reduction was three times greater for those who participated in the recreational music making than for those who read for the hour following the stressful activity.